I may have to retract some of my previous statements regarding this game. I'm trying to give this game a fair chance, and really want to enjoy it, here are my thoughts.

Well I picked up my pre-order of AvP for the PS3 yesterday, seems like you XBOX users got shafted on your shipment, but this might not be a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

Initially I jumped right into the Marines campaign, but I was really itching to play the Predator, so after about 30 minutes with the Marine, I said to heck with it and jumped on the Predator. Initially I was pleased with the game, the Pred was unique and cool and could do things that I had not seen before in a FPS. Once you start getting a few of the more gruesome trophy kills, you'll initially be impressed....

However, after playing the game for a bout 4 hours total last night, I'm becoming less and less impressed. First off, let me start with the graphics...honestly, they're not up to par. The IGN review was actually spot on in that the darkness of the Marines campaign hides a lot of the graphical flaws. The human models and skins look really bad, especially up close and personal when the Pred or Aliens do a trophy kill.

Second, the controls, I've read a lot this game has a steep learning curve, I think the Marines and Predator were fairly easy to master. The Alien is an entirely different bag...honestly the controls for the Alien seem a bit herky-jerky, and the Alien feels underpowered for melee when fighting Marines, etc. I do highly reccomend turing on the 'auto Transition' feature so that you can easily run up and down the walls. My thoughts on the Alien campaign are that it feels a bit 'tacked on'.

Overall, the game really lacks polish in my opinion, the controls aren't smooth, and the graphics are definately NOT up to snuff for a 3rd gen console game. For a game that was supposedly 2 years in the making, I feel like I'm playing 2 year old code for graphics. The Singleplayer experience does not justify the purchase of this game alone. I've yet to jump on the Multi, and I'm really hopeful that the Multiplayer experience can make this game worthwhile for me to keep.

Anyway, flame on if you wish, but those are my impressions so far. I'm hoping the Multi is a lot of fun and will justify my purchase of this game...but in the single player once you get over the initial fun of the trophy kills, the game is fairly mediocre. I think if the Multi is not entertaining, I'll be trading this one in by the end of the week while the value is still high.

check out my multiplayer thread to see what I was thinking about the mp in AvP. sp is better than mp imho.. but that's my pick [hr][/blockquote]
That's not really encouraging as I was hoping the Multiplayer would 'hook' me on this game...

Feeling a sense of Buyer's Remorse I may have to retract some of my previous statements regarding this game.

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Now that our review (American side) is out, I can speak my mind.

The single-player should've focused more on the Marine and Predator campaigns, with the Alien campaign as a "side-mission" (breaking lab stuff, killing scientists, etc.)

A local (offline LAN/splitscreen) multiplayer component would've been great for Survivor Mode, but so far, it's all about the online now. Restricting all but two of the maps to the Special Edition of the game is a predictable money-making thing.

Personally, I'd like to wait and see with Gearbox's Colonial Marines (also published by SEGA). Maybe they'll get the gist and throw in their weight behind a detailed and in-depth human campaign, with the other stuff just in the background.

Picking it up today. Not expecting the best game ever, just some fun and to tickle my Alien fanboyism.

sng-ign said:

Personally, I'd like to wait and see with Gearbox's Colonial Marines (also published by SEGA). Maybe they'll get the gist and throw in their weight behind a detailed and in-depth human campaign, with the other stuff just in the background.

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Totally. I was under the impression this was coming out way earlier, then out of nowhere AvP3 was announced.

sng-ign posted: [blockquote][b]JVgamer[/b] posted:[hr]Feeling a sense of Buyer's Remorse I may have to retract some of my previous statements regarding this game.[hr][/blockquote][b]Now that our review (American side) is out, I can speak my mind.[/b]

[b]The single-player should've focused more on the Marine and Predator campaigns, with the Alien campaign as a "side-mission" (breaking lab stuff, killing scientists, etc.)[/b]

[b]A local (offline LAN/splitscreen) multiplayer component would've been great for Survivor Mode, but so far, it's all about the online now. Restricting all but two of the maps to the Special Edition of the game is a predictable money-making thing.[/b]

[b]Personally, I'd like to wait and see with Gearbox's Colonial Marines (also published by SEGA). Maybe they'll get the gist and throw in their weight behind a detailed and in-depth human campaign, with the other stuff just in the background.[/b]
[hr][/blockquote]
Appreciate the post, unfortunately, I think this entry may have put off a lot of potential fans for Colonial Marines. I totally agree that the SP needed to flesh out the Marine and Predator campaign more, and could have added a few Alien missions as a bonus 'unlockable' rather than a whole campaign.

I wonder if this game ported to PC better than the console versions? How do PC users find the controls &amp; framerates?

I have not picked up my pre-order copy but I am also feeling buyer's remorse already. The reviews show the game as being either mediocre or just "Ok". I have been looking forward to this game for months and it is extremely disappointing to hear this.

On the plus side those maps in the special edition are going to be released as a map pack to the public eventually. They just gave the "Hunter" edition buyers a head start . . . yet hearing the lack of maps for this game really makes me sad anyway. I hope they make some patches and another map pack for this game, otherwise the multiplayer component, which is the main replayability factor, will be lacking.

I do hope Gearbox's "Colonial Marines" will be a better game and not simply be "Brothers In Arms" in space. Still going to pick up my copy of Aliens vs Predator and I am guessing it will be fun for awhile but I may just sell it if it really is the disappointment everyone is saying it is.

Will my opinion of the game be legitimized by the fact that I've now played the multiplayer?

Allright, now I've had a chance to get a good 3 hours in on the multiplayer here are my thoughts...

After wading through the multiplayer menus through a variety of Friendly and Ranked matches, I would say that about 1/3 of my time was spent trying to find a game. I can say with certainty that the Multiplayer experience was by far more enjoyable than the plodding single player campaign. This game does deliver very well at one thing, killing stuff, lots and lots of killing stuff.

I found the Marines were seriously overmatched in Multi, unless you're working together and staying grouped, you get picked off very quickly by the Aliens and Preds. Some of my best rounds were actually with the Alien, where you can use the wall running to pick odd angles against players and close in on them very quickly. While I think the Alien is fairly bad in the SP campaign missions, on multiplayer the bugs can be used quite effectively. The Predator fared very well on the open maps where you could quickly jump away if you got into trouble, but still use your weapons effectively.

I'm not sure the multiplayer has entirely salvaged my purchase, or if even considering that this game is anything but a renter, but I had far more fun in the multi, so that may be something to look forward to...so let's just say I don't feel as remorseful about my purchase at this point.

Well...I finally threw in the towel on this game and returned it to Gamestop. Funny, I got even less value for it back than what I got for Wolverine which is 4 months old...

Just too many things about this game that bothered me or didn't meet my expectations. Campaigns were boring and I didn't enjoy any of them. Some of the online play was entertaining, but the Multiplayer matching system and lobby was some of the worst I'd ever seen...I spent more than 1/2 my time searching for a game or trying to join something. If a game was already in progress, it would kick you to the front menu page.

Aside from that, the graphics and control issues also were cumbersome, I can't count how many times I had the push square prompt for the grab/killmove only to have it not work from the sluggish controls. After playing online for 4 days I was also bored with that mode, so figured I would return this for 2/3 of what I paid and move on.